Gay Man Shot In Face In New York Hate Crime
The brutal murder comes in an area of Manhattan well-known for its tolerance and as a bedrock of the gay rights movement.
2:03pm Monday 20 May 2013
Mark Carson died after being shot in the face
A gunman who allegedly used homophobic insults before firing a fatal shot point-blank into a man's face in New York is facing charges of murder as a hate crime.
"It was a quickie. He shot him and he went straight to the ground," a bouncer at a nearby club told the New York Post.
"Half his body was lying on the sidewalk and half was on the street."
Authorities allege Elliot Morales used a silver revolver to kill 32-year-old Mark Carson as he walked early on Saturday morning with a companion in Greenwich Village - a neighbourhood long known as a bedrock of gay rights.
The 33-year-old suspect trailed and taunted the men, yelling anti-gay slurs and asking one of them, "You want to die tonight?," according to eyewitnesses.
Police found Mr Carson fatally wounded on the pavement. He was pronounced dead on arrival at Beth Israel Hospital.
Morales, who was arrested in 1998 for attempted murder, was caught a few streets away by an officer who heard a description on his radio and spotted him.
New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly called the killing a hate crime.
"There were no words that would aggravate the situation, and the victim did not know the perpetrator," he said.
About 15 minutes before the bloodshed, Commissioner Kelly said the suspect was seen urinating outside an upscale restaurant a few blocks from the Stonewall Inn.
The bar was the site of 1969 riots over police harassment that helped give rise to the modern gay rights movement.
Saturday's shooting is at least the fourth violent attack in two weeks believed to be motivated by anti-gay bias.
The NYPD says there have been 22 bias-motivated events this year, compared to 13 this time last year.
Morales, who appeared in court in Manhattan on Sunday, was charged with murder and weapons charges.
He is being held without bail pending another court appearance on Thursday.
